licentious radio

Monday, March 24, 2003
[11:43:15 PM]

Meanwhile, Sharon is doing his best to provoke Palestinian terrorists to strike. One good suicide bombing would give Sharon enough excuse to really seize the day. Maybe he couldn't expel *all* the Palestinians, but he could sure get rid of Arafat. Of course Arafat would fight, but does anyone think Sharon would mind killing Arafat, what with Bush War II distracting everybody?

[11:31:30 PM]

This weekend, twenty American soldiers died while Bush hung out at Camp David, relaxing.

[11:30:02 PM]

Rumsfeld's strategy under fire as war risks become increasingly apparent [philly.com].

Rumsfeld should have been sacked long ago. This article shows how he crippled our forces, putting American soldiers' lives at risk.

Who supports the troops? The people who say *no* to war. And the people who say to do war *right*, if you must have a war. Rumsfeld?

[11:22:54 PM]
Why do I say the US has lost the war?

Twice on Saturday, my way was blocked by SF cops -- a thin row of sixty or so, stretching across Market. Both times, the cops were surrounded on both sides by thousands of demonstraters. The cops were back-to-back. The protesters were about two feet from the cops faces. It was a *very* bad decision for the cops to put themselves in that situation -- twice. I gather they learned, though not necessarily the right lesson.

When surrounded and cut off, the cops had no choice but to give up. It was either give up, or initiate violence. But beating protesters would have been crazy.

The US army has enough firepower to defeat Iraq any day. But that doesn't mean it will be *willing* to do what it takes. If beating Saddam means fighting house-to-house in Baghdad, the casualties on both sides will be horrific. The American people won't stand for it. The British won't stand for it. The Europeans, Russians, and Chinese won't stand for it. The American generals won't even stand for it. Are you even sure the American *soldiers* will stand for it? How many of your sons and daughters care enough about some burned-out house in Baghdad to die for it?

The Republican Media Chorus repeats over and over that the outcome isn't in doubt; that the US will win.

Consider the source! The Republican media can manipulate two-thirds of Americans, but this emperor has no clothes. Bush has been a disaster everywhere else. When the chorus strikes up to the uniform White House beat, figure they're either lying, or wrong.

[10:12:22 PM]
F-ing Nazis. Remember Nazis burning books?

How about f-ing American fascists destroying CDs with tractors?

It can't happen here? It's happening.

Krugzilla strikes again!

"Experienced Bushologists let out a collective 'Aha!' when Clear Channel was revealed to be behind the pro-war rallies, because the company's top management has a history with George W. Bush. The vice chairman of Clear Channel is Tom Hicks, whose name may be familiar to readers of this column. When Mr. Bush was governor of Texas, Mr. Hicks was chairman of the University of Texas Investment Management Company, called Utimco, and Clear Channel's chairman, Lowry Mays, was on its board. Under Mr. Hicks, Utimco placed much of the university's endowment under the management of companies with strong Republican Party or Bush family ties. In 1998 Mr. Hicks purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal that made Mr. Bush a multimillionaire."

Krugman points out that it's not just government 'regulators' (ha ha ha) making Bush cronies rich, it's also rich Bush cronies propagandizing for Bush.

Bring us their heads!

[9:47:55 PM]
Dying for oil [guardian.co.uk]: "As they approached the oilfields, they were operating under constraints: they were free to kill any Iraqi soldiers in their way, but were only allowed to use their small calibre machine gun, and only certain kinds of ammunition in the tank's big gun, for fear of harming the most precious thing out there: the oil installations.

"One Marine lieutenant died of his wounds after a firefight in the battle for the Rumaila oil installations...."

The article is too polite to harp on the fact that this guy died because we didn't want to risk damage the oil pumping station with tank fire. I'm not that polite.

I support the troops. That is one dead American soldier, who died because George Bush wants that oil to flow. Bush would rather kill a marine or two than damage the oil installations.

Mostly the article is about breakdowns. Of four tanks, three had malfunctions before they ever met up with the Iraqis. One drove into a mine field.

[9:35:41 PM]
The first American to die in combat died to grab an oil facility without damaging it. The first British soldier died after being shot during a riot by civilians in Basra.

How appropriate. Bush is out to grab the oil. The British ruled Iraq with massacres of civilians and poison gas.

Tommy Franks says he hasn't been surprised yet. Me either.

[9:27:49 PM]
We sent a general to the Kurds to "synchronise humanitarian support operations, assist in the deconfliction of humanitarian and military activities, and co-ordinate relief in northern Iraq". You can bet the Kurds were relieved to hear that, once they figured out what it meant. If they figured out what it meant. (Apparently, it means he's going to try to keep the Turkish generals from invading, or at least from invading too far, or at least from killing too many Kurds, or at least from broadcasting video of their victories, or at least....)

[9:23:30 PM]
New York Times:

"American forces gathered themselves south of Baghdad today, flinging artillery fire and attack helicopters against the Republican Guard, the outer ring of Saddam Hussein's defenses of Baghdad.

"But small-arms fire described as a "hornet's nest" drove back the airborne force of 30 to 40 Apache helicopters seeking Iraqi tanks, downing one of the aircraft in a farmer's field.

"Nearly all the gunships sustained damage, and military commanders said they were disappointed in their initial failure to destroy the entrenched Iraqi forces from the air."

Tommy Franks:

"We know that this particular helicopter was one of between 30 and 40 attack helicopters that we moved into this particular target set. We know that they were very effective in their mission."

Hmm. "Very effective" -- but we're not going to try *that* again. Call in the bombers! After giving up on helicopters, they unleashed the heavy bombers that resulted in the huge explosions reported just south of Baghdad.

Ari Fleischer had better watch out. Tommy Franks is in line for Ari's top "lie-to-the-public" job.

Former Time-Warner Board Member Colin Powell said there are only pockets of resistance left in the south. There still seems to be fighting in Umm Qasr, which has been declared secured at least once a day since the invasion began. Basra was declared secure until reporters noticed the British were forced to withdraw. Now it's a pocket of resistance. The Rumailah oil fields were secured again today, except that Iraqis with guns are running around, and the well-heads are booby-trapped. So the oil fields are *not* a pocket of resistance, despite the resistance. The other main pocket of resistance is about 4,000 square miles of unsecured desert, through which American supplies have to be trucked to the soldiers approaching Baghdad. On unguarded roads. In a sandstorm.

Nasiriya is *not* a pocket of resistance. It was secured by Marines, except for 400 or so Iraqis still shooting back. Al Zubayr is still a pocket of resistance.

[7:24:46 PM]
"The American people will not tolerate an outlaw regime."

Damn straight!

Impeach Bush!

[7:24:38 PM]
"The American people will not tolerate an outlaw regime."

Damn straight!

Impeach Bush!

[7:17:26 PM]
Colin Powell is Darth Vader -- able to use the dark side of the Force to crush the life from opponents with his supposed credibility.

Dick Cheney is the Emperor with the evil plans and the vast forces.

George Bush is Jar-Jar Binks.

"Me-sa *so* happy kill-um bad man Saddam!"

[7:06:34 PM]
"To announce there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -Theodore Roosevelt

[6:24:41 PM]
Sign at the protest:

"Save the Dixie Chicks!"

(Carried by a very attractive blonde woman, incidentally.)

[6:10:39 PM]
Man! Even the Afghans are protesting in the streets against the war in Iraq. Those are some people who know what they're talking about.

[6:05:18 PM]
According to Seymour Hersch -- "media terrorist", according to Richard Perle, whose criminality Hersch exposed -- the forged documents that Iraq tried to buy uranium oxide were used as evidence to get Democrats to vote for Bush's blank-check for conquest.

[3:51:53 PM]
Harsh reality: the US has lost the war in Iraq.

Shocking? What about 'shock and awe'?

There are two ways to win the war. One is for the Iraqis not to fight. Alas, they are fighting.

The reckless, wishful thinking was that the Iraqis would want Saddam gone. Ha ha. Saddam is evil. But Iraqis know what colonialism is like. Winston Churchill gassed Iraqis long before Saddam ever gassed Kurds. The Iraqis aren't welcoming white invaders today, any more than they welcomed them before. The British, after all, liberated them from the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire was not kind or gentle. What's more, when the Iraqis send the Americans and British packing, Saddam and the army are going to be freaking world heros. They can take credit for stopping George Bush's plan for world domination cold.

The other way to win the war is to fight through the streets of Baghdad. Sorry, that's not going to happen.

There is not one US soldier who wants Baghdad 1/1000th as much as the Iraqis want Baghdad. We would have to completely destroy the city, and even the widespread destruction would only make things easier for the defenders.

How many dead American soldiers is the US willing to read about every day? At twenty dead Americans per day, it's not going to take long before we wake up. When it hits fifty dead American soldiers per day, the game is just about up.

Consider Umm Qasr. 120 Iraqis have held out for days against everything the US Marines *were willing* to throw at them. Americans don't want to die for a decrepit warehouse in a dirt-poor country. Iraqis are willing to die.

The rest of the world is not going to sit still for weeks while Americans slaughter the poor people of Baghdad, grinding the neighborhoods to rubble.

In about the most freakish twist of fate in history, Saddam Hussein is going to be the hero of the world. He's going to defeat the US military. George Bush will lose power.

Bush will not only lose power, he will probably be prosecuted for his numerous crimes. We're going to find out a lot about the Andersen-Harken-Halliburton-Enron connections. A lot of the puppeteers are going down. The whole Cheney vision for the world will be repudiated, as well as prosecuted.

Democrats will sweep House, Senate, and Presidency in 2004 -- undeservedly, thanks only to Saddam Hussein, not their own efforts. Prosecutors will un-do the Republican's vote-fraud apparatus. Democrats will throw out every bit of legislation Bush pushed through.

In foreign affairs, we'll become the leaders in a new, positive internationalism. Bill Clinton for Secretary of State! There are countless important, urgent tasks that the United States can take up -- to atone for Bush's evil.

Some more clues.... Saddam isn't blowing all the oil wells. He'll need them when the US leaves. He isn't even destroying bridges. The US will be gone soon, why wreck his own roads?

Actions: British and Americans should immediately withdraw any forces from Basrah, and stay out. American and British generals should immediately make clear to political leadership that the war is unwinnable, and make plans to dis-engage. Above all, protect the lives of our soldiers, and avoid killing Iraqis needlessly. Peace protesters should make signs with the names of dead Americans, British, and Iraqis. Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living. Kurds should pray especially hard, and certainly not attack Saddam's forces. The US should put thousands of troops into the Kurdish part of Iraq -- in the hope of saving the Kurds after the war. Bush should threaten Turkey with "severe consequences" if the Turkish military crosses the border.

I am not happy that the US is likely to lose the war to Saddam Hussein. Bush is the worst president in American history. He may be the stupidest national leader in the history of the planet. The idea that Saddam Hussein will rescue the world from George Bush makes me want to puke. Saddam is clearly as evil as we humans get. Democrats should have prevented Bush's coup d'etat. They should have prevented the war. They should never have agreed to a blank-check last fall. Inspections were going well the last few weeks. Bush's pre-emption doctrine is madness. Democrats should have forced Bush to reject it publicly -- completely shutting down the government if necessary. Instead, Saddam Hussein is going to do our dirty work, and become a hero to some huge portion of the world's population, and hundreds or thousands will be killed in the process. Hand me a barf-bag.

[12:48:15 PM]
Heard again that Umm Qasr was secured. Now I read that there's more fighting there.

Great.

Heard they canceled a trip to show journalists the Rumaylah oil field -- captured intact for a small cost of American blood. Bodies per gallon of gas will be negligible. Except, oops, there are still Iraqis with guns.

And now supply convoys are being ambushed. I don't suppose Dummy-Rummy ever watched Lawrence of Arabia?

You know how many Iraqi prisoners Americans had after five days of Bush War I? More than 60,000. After five days of Bush War II? 3,000. Bush War I was over after five days. Actually, they timed it so they stopped killing Iraqis after exactly 100 hours. That's what clever men they are.